The present invention relates to interactive voice response systems, and in particular to transfer of collected data with a call.
Interactive voice response (IVR) systems collect data in conjunction with a telephone call. The data may include information such as an account number or social security number. This data may be used to retrieve information from a server related to the caller. The IVR is usually implemented on a client system which is coupled to the server. A telephone switch, PBX, is also coupled to the server, and controls telephone connections. Data is formatted and transferred between the server and the client in conformance with one of several exclusive platform specifications, Telephony Services Application Programming Interface (TSAPI) by Novell and ATandT, Telephony Application Programming Interface (TAPI) by Microsoft Corp. or other proprietary platforms. A different driver is used for each specification because of differences in the formatting of the data exchanged. As such, only one type of specification is usually implemented on a system comprising a server with multiple clients.
When a call is to be transferred to a real person, or independent software vendor ISV program residing on a different client, it is desirable to have the underlying data which has been collected transferred to a client which is associated with the person so that the person can immediately see the data associated with the caller without asking for it again. This increases efficiency of handling telephone calls, and is also more convenient for the caller because the caller does not have to repeat the information provided. By providing the data on the server, each client receiving a transferred call can retrieve the data associated with that call directly from the server.
Currently, each IVR system must be designed exclusively to implement one of the platform specifications. The specifications also require operating environments, such as Windows, Netware or UNIX, and also require additional telephony software which must be licensed. Since there are at least two separate specifications, each IVR system must be designed and coded for the different, exclusive specifications, leading to greatly increased development and maintenance costs. Further, the specifications do not provide any means to transfer data to different sites, such as between two different servers. IVR systems must be paired one to one with servers, and calls handled by a server at one site cannot be synchronized with a server at a second site. There is a need to transfer calls between servers to balance workload. There is a further need to be able to design and maintain a single IVR system which can operate with systems implementing either specification.
An interactive voice response (IVR) system collects data associated with a telephone call, and provides the data to a server. The server transforms the data into a format consistent with a telephony platform specification implemented by clients attached to the server such that the data can be retrieved by any client to which a telephone call is transferred. No modifications are required to the clients in order for them to retrieve the data.
Data is also shared between remote servers when calls are transferred. The servers each broadcast their identity when initially connected to a wide area network. In response, each server on the network responds with their identity. Each server updates a table of servers in accordance with the messages exchanged.